What does the UN Disability Committee do with a complaint?

When the UN Disability Committee receives your complaint, it will decide if a human rights abuse has or has not happened.

This will take place in a private meeting of the UN Disability Committee. The UN Disability Committee usually meets twice a year.

If the UN Disability Committee decides an abuse of the CRPD has occurred it will examine the complaint. Once it has finished, it will decide what actions it believes the Government should take to correct the problem.

If the complaint is about an abuse that has happened in New Zealand, the UN Disability Committee will send its recommendations to the New Zealand Government and also to the person or group who has made the complaint. The Government will then have six months to send written explanations or statements to the UN Disability Committee about the complaint. It will also tell the UN Disability Committee about what it is doing to correct the problem (Article 3).

When the UN Disability Committee gets a complaint it can ask the country to take action right away if there is a risk that the victim(s) can be hurt permanently. Just because the UN Disability Committee decides to take action right away, it does not mean:

» it will be able to examine the complaint; or » that the complaint will be upheld.